Intentions to Marry, 1925 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840533, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1925f contains pages 2177-2702, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2538

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1925

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

280

1 April 1925

Arthur Allan Dodd
Mary Rita Florence Wilkinson

Arthur Allan Dodd
Mary Rita Florence Wilkins
💍 1925/2762

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

26
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

Life
5 days

Registrar's Office

3564

Mary Ann Farrow, formerly Wilkinson, mother

1 April 1925

Registrar

No	280
Date of Notice	1 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Allan Dodd	Mary Rita Florence Wilkinson
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Allan Dodd	Mary Rita Florence Wilkins
	💍 1925/2762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	Life	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	3564
Consent	Mary Ann Farrow, formerly Wilkinson, mother
Date of Certificate	1 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

281

1 April 1925

Donald George McKenzie
Isabel Elizabeth Grenfell

Donald George McKenzie
Mabel Elizabeth Grenfell
💍 1925/2763

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
18

Christchurch
Sydenham

3 years
15 years

Residence of Rev. P. R. Paris, 67 Brougham Street, Sydenham

3565

Nicholas James Grenfell, father

1 April 1925

P. R. Paris, Methodist

No	281
Date of Notice	1 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald George McKenzie	Isabel Elizabeth Grenfell
BDM Match (96%)	Donald George McKenzie	Mabel Elizabeth Grenfell
	💍 1925/2763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. P. R. Paris, 67 Brougham Street, Sydenham
Folio	3565
Consent	Nicholas James Grenfell, father
Date of Certificate	1 April 1925
Officiating Minister	P. R. Paris, Methodist

282

1 April 1925

Allan Norman Perham
Claude Aljene Bell

Allan Norman Perham
Maude Alziere Bell
💍 1925/2764

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

33
30

Wellington
Christchurch

4 years
3 months

St. Mary's Church, Addington

3566

1 April 1925

W. T. Bean, Anglican

No	282
Date of Notice	1 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Norman Perham	Claude Aljene Bell
BDM Match (86%)	Allan Norman Perham	Maude Alziere Bell
	💍 1925/2764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	3566
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1925
Officiating Minister	W. T. Bean, Anglican

283

1 April 1925

Harold Percival Smith
Alice Grace Ryan

Harold Percival Smith
Alice Grace Ryan
💍 1925/5503

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

34
27

Sumner
Sumner

16 years
2 years

Our Lady Star of the Sea, Sumner

5371

1 April 1925

D. Healy, Roman Catholic

No	283
Date of Notice	1 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Percival Smith	Alice Grace Ryan
	💍 1925/5503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Sumner	Sumner
Length of Residence	16 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Our Lady Star of the Sea, Sumner
Folio	5371
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1925
Officiating Minister	D. Healy, Roman Catholic

284

2 April 1925

Malcolm Duncan Michael Cunneen
Eileen Bertille Coff

Malcolm Duncan Michael Cunneen
Eileen Bertille Poff
💍 1925/2765

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

26
32

St. Albans
Papanui

Life
16 years

St. Joseph's Church, Papanui

3567

2 April 1925

J. Hanrahan, Roman Catholic

No	284
Date of Notice	2 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Duncan Michael Cunneen	Eileen Bertille Coff
BDM Match (98%)	Malcolm Duncan Michael Cunneen	Eileen Bertille Poff
	💍 1925/2765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Papanui
Length of Residence	Life	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Papanui
Folio	3567
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Hanrahan, Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).